The Tufts Daily - Thursday, March 2, 2023

city tells s omerville Media center to relocate by april 30

by Michaela Loughran Staff Writer

Originally published Feb. 27

The City of Somerville is requiring Somerville Media Center to relocate from its current home in Union Square by April 30. Formed in March 1983, SMC produces local radio shows and TV shows as well as youth programs that seek to educate children in the use of media tools to tell their own stories.

SMC also shares the building with the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, a nonprofit that seeks to help Portuguese speakers in Massachusetts become “active participants in American society while maintaining a strong ethnic identity and a sense of community,” according to its web-

site. MAPS did not respond to a request for comment.

The tenants were first notified they would have to relocate in late fall of 2019, when the aging building, which had not been renovated since the ‘90s, sustained heavy water damage. After an independent evaluation identified significant water infiltration problems, the city advised SMC that they should plan to leave the building within six months.

Denise Taylor, the director of communications and community engagement for the City of Somerville, explained that a forced eviction for SMC and MAPS “has never been on the table.”

“The City has sought to set reasonable timelines and

see MEDIA CENTER, page 3

Proposed Mass. bill would allow parents to use campaign funds for childcare

by Carly Cohen Contributing Writer

A bill that would allow parents running for public office to use campaign funds for childcare was recently introduced by Massachusetts State Senator Patricia Jehlen, who represents Medford, Somerville, Cambridge and Winchester.

If enacted, the bill would amend Massachusetts law to allow candidates running for non-federal office seats to use campaign funds to pay for childcare, bringing the commonwealth in line with 29 other states which allow the same. While the bill has been passed by the Massachusetts Senate several times, it has never made it to the top of the legislative agenda until now.

When asked why she supported this bill, Jehlen shared a story of a constituent from Somerville who fundraised with the intention of having enough money to pay for childcare while she can-

vassed and did other campaigning activities.

“She found out … she could not use campaign funds for that, and she didn’t have enough income herself [to] do that,” Jehlen said.

Jehlen pointed out the inconsistencies in campaign finance law.

“People are allowed to use campaign funds to rent cars,

to rent tuxedos, to take each other out to dinner,” she said. “Particularly for women, who are often the caregivers — but [also] for anybody who has kids — [this restriction] can be a barrier.”

Dawne Shand, a Massachusetts state representative, first ran for office when her child was 5 years old.

Tcu hears new fossil fuel divestment abstract, responds to recent protests

by Matthew Sage News Editor

The Tufts Community Union Senate held a weekly meeting on Feb. 26, hearing an abstract calling on the university to fully divest from fossil fuels and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. During the meeting, roughly 20 students gathered in the Joyce Cummings Center atrium outside the meeting room holding posters with phrases such as “protect the right to protest.”

The protesters said the event was not organized by a specific student organization. After standing outside the senate room for about 20 minutes, the crowd dispersed. The TCU Senate Executive Board released an official statement via Instagram early the next morning addressing both the protest outside the TCU meeting and the Feb. 21 protest which disrupted an IsraelPalestine discussion.

“We strongly support the right to protest,” the statement read. “We also believe that protests can create effective change. We’re committed

to supporting our community’s right to protest to promote social justice both on our campus and beyond.”

The board reaffirmed the Senate’s commitment to creating “a respectful culture where all student organizations can hold events that align with their missions.”

During the meeting, the Senate heard a new abstract by Tufts Climate Action, called “A Resolution Calling Upon Tufts University to Commit to Institutional Climate Justice.” Tufts currently pledges to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, but the new abstract calls on Tufts to bring the deadline forward 20 years and “establish a plan that entails accountability for benchmark accomplishments.”

The Senate introduced two full-text resolutions calling on the university to create a Southwest Asia and North Africa space on campus and to divulge the costs of courses on SIS enrollment pages.

Somerville City Hall is pictured on Feb. 16.

KATRINA AQUILINO / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Massachusetts State House is pictured on Feb. 11, 2022.

THE

Massachusetts democrats want major moves on gun safety in 2023

by Amelia Colafati Staff Writer

Originally published Feb. 28

Massachusetts Democrats plan to use the 2023 legislative session to further gun control legislation in the state. The Democrats hold a majority in both the state House and the state Senate. Along with recently elected Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, state legislators and activists have high hopes for a major gun safety package.

Rina Schneur is a leader with the Massachusetts chapter of Moms Demand Action, an organization under the national umbrella organization of Everytown for Gun Safety. According to Schneur, the job of an advocate in a session like the current one is to support survi-

vors, survivor-led organizations, promote gun control legislation and educate the public about firearms.

“One aspect is, of course, supporting survivors and survivor-led organizations,” Schneur said. “We also have a whole effort about public education, and working on that level. … And of course, we are advocating for legislation to improve and make sure that Massachusetts is kept a leader in gun violence prevention legislation, but also to catch up with aspects or loopholes that are missing.”

State Representative Christine Barber, D-34th Middlesex, is one of the members of the legislature who hopes to use the session to tackle gun control issues, among other items on the legislative docket. Barber noted that while Massachusetts already has some

of the most restrictive gun laws in the United States, new work is constantly being done.

“While Massachusetts has some of the strongest gun laws in the country, there is more that we can do to address loopholes and invest in communities that face high rates of violence,” Barber wrote in an email to the Daily. “We are working in the House to pass a strong bill that will further protect people in Massachusetts and continue to invest in communities that are most impacted by guns.” Barber wants to see future gun safety regulations respond to a broader swath of issues than what is currently addressed in Massachusetts law.

“My hope is that we address issues including domestic violence, suicide, and supporting communities, as well as closing

loopholes like ghosts guns and the selling of parts to evade current rules,” Barber wrote.

Barber also acknowledged the important role that advocates, especially those from Moms Demand Action, have played in successfully creating more restrictive gun control measures in the state. She explained that Massachusetts owes much of its strong gun legislation “to the work of activists here who have pushed for safer communities.”

“I’m looking forward to continuing to work with local activists on common sense gun control,” Barber wrote.

Schneur hopes to address similar issues to Barber. Schneur and Moms Demand Action are advocating this session for a series of gun control bills, includ-

see GUN CONTROL, page 3

Sen. Patricia Jehlen discusses potential impact of new bill

CHILDCARE continued from page 1

“People said to me, ‘Have you thought about your daughter?’ and they said ‘Have you asked your husband what he thinks?’” Shand said. “I really think Massachusetts has changed dramatically. It has become a much less conventional place than it was even 15 years ago.”

This bill could help pave the way for more people to run for office by including people who could not afford the costs of childcare in addition to the costs of campaigning, according to Sara Suzuki, a researcher with Tufts’ Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Suzuki said that the bill could help create a more representational democracy.

“In the United States, even though we want individuals from a lot of diverse backgrounds to seek elected office in order to have a healthy, functioning democracy, the reality is that there are really vast inequities in who gets to run for office,” Suzuki said. “One of the inequities that this Senate bill … addresses is [having] the financial means to get childcare.”

Jehlen recalled being able to have a friend watch her own kids while she knocked on doors for her campaign for school committee, noting how her career might have been altered if she did not have access to childcare.

“I could’ve run, but I wouldn’t have won; I wouldn’t have had time [to campaign].” Jehlen said.

“I knocked on doors for about 20 hours a week. … And so, if I had

been paying for that now, it’d be significant.”

Suzuki said the bill could not only provide a form of encouragement to run for office but also help to break down one of many financial barriers that young parents face when running.

“People say that they are extremely concerned about running for office because of the loss of income. … So, anything that can address that in some way is really important,” Suzuki said.

Jehlen said that while there is pushback against the bill, it primarily has to do with people’s misconceptions around the misuse of campaign spending.

“Sometimes people who haven’t thought about it a great deal … think that women would take

advantage of it and use campaign funds to go out to dinner with their spouse, or just have a nice time,” she said. “All of those things can happen with regular campaign spending. … People imagine that [child care] will be abused, whereas they don’t imagine that any other form of campaign spending would be abused.”

Shand believes the bill would level the playing field, allowing parents to support their children while pursuing their career goals.

“It’s an incredibly time-consuming process to run a competitive campaign,” Shand said. “It can be an incredible burden on the family under the best of circumstances, … so I really advocate for this bill for people with younger children.”

TCU approves 13 supp. funding requests at weekly meeting

TCU continued from page 1

The Senate approved 13 supplementary funding requests from student organizations.

Ears for Peers requested funding to take their members ice skating for their annual spring retreat. The request passed by acclamation.

Engineers Without Borders requested $10,000 to complete the final implementation of their water tower in a Malawian School District. An independent company will link the water system to indoor bathrooms and sinks, improving the school system’s general sanitation. The request passed unanimously.

Tufts Climate Action requested $1,050 for pre-rally speakers and transportation to Boston’s Global Climate Strike, taking place on March 3. The request passed with 31 senators in favor, zero opposed and two abstaining.

Tufts Students for the Exploration and Development of Space requested $2,627 to improve safety for their upcoming rocket launch. The request passed unanimously.

The Tufts Tap Ensemble requested $860 for new costumes for upcoming performances. The request passed by acclamation.

TEDxTufts requested $6,317 to further fund a rehearsal event before their main TED events on March 11 and March 12. The request passed with 32 senators in favor, zero against and one abstaining.

Tufts’s student jazz band, Freshman Fifteen, requested $338 for performance equipment. The request was passed unanimously by the Allocations Board.

Tufts NeuroNetwork requested $2,242 for several upcoming events including an open house. The request passed with 32 senators in favor, zero against and one abstaining.

Tufts Pre-Dental Society requested $400 for six upcoming bi-weekly events. The request was passed unanimously by the Allocations Board.

The National Society of Black Engineers requested $7,200 for flight tickets to a conference in Kansas City. The Allocations Board modified the request to $4,500 to reflect a $500 per person

cap on travel costs. The request passed with 31 senators in favor, zero against and one abstaining.

Tufts Model UN requested $200 for an upcoming brunch event. The request was passed unanimously by the Allocations Board.

The Tufts Observer requested $2,610 to send three members of their executive board to a journalism conference. The Allocations Board removed personal contributions from the request and rec-

ommended $2,349, which passed unanimously.

The American Society of Civil Engineers requested $2,140 for an upcoming steel bridge-building competition. The request was passed unanimously.

After successfully passing all supplementary funding requests, Zachary Ferretti, TCU parliamentarian, was named Senator of the Week and the Senate held a closed session.

The Joyce Cummings

Media nonprofit searches for new home

MEDIA CENTER

continued from page 1

deadlines for both organizations to find alternate space and when they have not met those deadlines, expert staff have made careful evaluations to consider safety and each time we have been able to allow them to take more time for their searches,” Taylor wrote in an email to the Daily.

Taylor noted that even though the city is not forcing an eviction on the two tenants, the state of the building’s structure does require a certain amount of urgency.

“We cannot … expect temporary repairs made in 2019 to hold indefinitely, and it is time to work toward the building’s closure and repair for everyone’s safety.”

The City of Somerville has, accordingly, been taking steps to find a tenant to occupy and renovate the building once the current tenants leave. The city issued a Request for Proposals looking to find such a tenant on Aug. 11, 2021, in which it was mentioned that those applying would be expected to contribute an estimated amount of $7 million to $10 million toward the building’s renovation.

The only response received from the request was a joint proposal from developer Union Square Station Associates, also known as US2, and Fab Foundation, the new nonprofit which they propose would occupy the empty building once it is repaired and renovated. Since then, the city has begun an analysis of the proposal and discussions with the two groups to determine whether it’s feasible for them to take over the building’s lease, but it has yet to reach a decision.

Meanwhile, SMC has been looking at various spaces in

Somerville in its search to find a new home including former industrial spaces, artist buildings, a former brewery and the third floor of a police station. In the process, they have also spoken to a variety of developers including Somernova and the very tenant that may be replacing them, US2.

According to Kat Powers, executive director of SMC, it has been difficult to find a space that meets the center’s unique needs.

“We have really bright lights for TV. If you have electricity for an office space, you’re gonna have to rewire that building for a TV studio,” Powers said. “We need something that’s handicap accessible. … We [also] have artists coming in here from Dorchester, Malden, Cambridge, as well as Somerville, [so] we absolutely have to be on public transit.”

Powers mentioned financial concerns about finding a new space, in light of the fact that SMC’s current building is cityowned, and the city has not been charging rent.

“There are some places in Union and Davis Squares [that charge] $40 a square foot. We’ve been using that money to pay for equipment,” Powers noted.

SMC’s financial struggles have also been exacerbated by the fact that a formerly significant source of funding for them, known as “cable franchise fees,” has been gradually declining. These franchise fees have been historically used to fund public access TV services like SMC as well as education and government access TV services, which collectively are referred to as PEG services. However, they are dependent on the profits of local cable television providers, and in recent years, with the growing national trend of giving up cable TV for

alternative viewing options like streaming, it’s become clear that the fees will no longer be able to sustain all three categories.

Mayor of Somerville Katjana Ballantyne has not been oblivious to this issue, and on Feb. 13, she announced a new funding model for PEG access television in which education and government access TV services would shift to being funded by the city’s general budget, and the 5% franchise fees that would normally go to all three types would go entirely to public access TV. Education and government access TV services would be funded through the mayor’s proposed budget, which the city council will not review until June. The funding shift is contingent on the budget’s approval.

Powers said that even if the funding model does get passed, it will not completely solve SMC’s financial issues, considering the money will likely need to be used to cover its rent in 2024.

“[The funding is] a lovely gift,” Powers said. “It is fantastic. This will help shore us up in 2024. Right now, we’re looking at two issues, however: how to pay for 2023, and if that money is used to pay rent, what other funding sources can we use to build a studio.”

She explained that SMC will look to the community for help in covering costs.

“We’re gonna have to lean on the community for a lot,” Powers said. “We’re going to have to have a fundraiser … [and seek out] corporate sponsorships. … We have no problem asking Somerville to step up because they’ve been doing so for 40 years.”

In addition to Ballantyne’s proposed funding model, the city has taken other actions to support SMC and MAPS in their relocation processes.

“The City has offered substantial staff support to help both organizations seek new suitable space and staff have and continue to search listings, tour sites, and connect both organizations to property owners,” Taylor wrote.

However, in a testimony given by City Councilor Matt McLaughlin on Jan. 12 in favor of a resolution to extend the Media Center’s deadline to relocate further from its current one, he noted that he believed that this approach was insufficient.

“It’s not enough to say we’re gonna help you find a home. We need to give them a home,” he commented.

In his testimony, McLaughlin cast doubts upon the administration’s public attribution for the Media Center’s relocation, suggesting the city’s true intent is to make space for the nonprofit Fab Foundation.

“The idea that the structural problem is the reason we need MAPS and the Media Center to leave [is] a total falsehood,” McLaughlin said. “If it was an actual issue, they should’ve condemned the building. I just don’t believe that the roof is the reason why we can’t have a media center there. The real reason is we have a new non-profit coming to town and we need to make room.”

He ended his testimony with a declaration that in the future, he will not approve of FabLab’s occupation of the building, regardless of whether the two current tenants are removed from their respective spaces or not.

“Eventually they’re gonna be asking us for some form of approval for the FabLab, and I’m not supporting anything,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t care if you evict all the tenants, and two years later, decide you want to

do a FabLab. If I’m here, I’m not voting for it.”

At the same meeting McLaughlin delivered his testimony, the city council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution calling on City Hall to reverse its decision to remove SMC and MAPS and to find them suitable homes in Somerville before any further action is taken.

While the resolution cannot compel the administration to act in a certain way, Powers still cited it as a “highlight of some of the great support we have in the community.”

Powers also expressed gratitude for McLaughlin and Jesse Clingan, his fellow councilor who was also a former student at SMC.

“Their support has been immeasurable and always will be,” she said.

She also nodded to them as examples of SMC’s mission to “give people the education in order to tell their own stories and to be activists in their community” as being accomplished.

Stressing the larger importance of the Media Center’s longevity, she said, “We want to make sure that the kids … taking classes [here] can continue to do that, so we can create more city councilors or … HBO directors or singer songwriters. I mean, there’s a lot of different folks who came out of this building.”

Powers hopes for a peaceful resolution to the issue and for the SMC to have “a long-term space in Union Square where we can have the mayor and everybody else come and celebrate with us.”

“We turn 40 on March 21,” Powers said. “We’re trying to figure out how to make sure we’re protecting digital arts and media here in Somerville for the next 40 years.”

2023 legislative session aims to further Massachusetts gun control

GUN CONTROL

continued from page 2

ing placing further limitations on ghost guns, improving crime data analysis, improving firearm education and training and barring firearms from sensitive locations, such as polling places.

“One [bill] we are specifically supporting this time around — one which is very much I think in the [minds] of many people — is having some limitations and regulations on ghost guns,” Schneur said. “They are the 3D[-printed] or ones without serial [numbers] that allow people to bypass a lot of the legislation that we passed throughout the years.”

At Tufts, gun control measures are strict and repercussions for possession of a firearm are serious, notes Yolanda Smith, executive director of public safety at Tufts.

“Tufts strictly prohibits the possession of firearms on all of Tufts’ campuses unless the person has the approval to possess the firearms on campus from the Chief of Police of TUPD,” Smith wrote in an email to the Daily.

“In the event we find a weapon either on a student or community member, depending on the circumstances, we would either escort the person off campus or seize the gun immediately. Lastly, illegal possession of a firearm is an arrestable offense.”

Although gun control legislation in Massachusetts is among the strongest in the country, gun violence remains an issue in the state, according to Barber.

“Gun violence is a public health issue that affects every corner of Massachusetts. Nearly all of us have been personally affected by gun violence, and thousands of people die prematurely due to firearms,” Barber wrote. “We need to continue to pass common-sense rules to ensure safe gun ownership and keep our neighborhoods safe.”

People who are impacted by gun violence inspire Schneur and her colleagues to keep pushing for gun reform.

“I know a lot of the attention to gun violence prevention comes after some events in the news, and that’s heart -

breaking, but there are more than 110 people that die by gun violence every day, and 60% of them are from suicide,” Schneur said. “Of course, many

more people are impacted or injured. Survivors of gun violence, family members [and] friends need a lot of support, and we are really here to help

them and to make sure that we prevent more [from] joining this horrific group. So that’s what drives me and many of our volunteers.”

The Massachusetts State House is pictured.

FeaT ures

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023

Meandering through the Middlesex Fells

by Carmen Smoak Assistant Features Editor

Standing in the basement of Lane Hall, Jack Ridge, Tufts professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, points to a print map that illustrates the geology of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, commonly referred to as the Fells. He has spent years mapping the geology of the nature reservation, which lies roughly two miles north of Tufts’ Medford/ Somerville campus. Through a labor of love, he has created numerous self-guided geology tours of trails within the Fells so that Tufts community members can learn about what lies beneath their feet as they explore within the woods.

A place full of opportunities for adventure, the Fells serves as an educational resource, place of recreation and nature reservation for the five towns in which it is located — Medford, Malden, Melrose, Stoneham and Winchester — as well as for the greater Boston area.

It is a state-funded park that is overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Massachusetts DCR works in concert with the neighboring towns, the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and Friends of the Fells, a local nonprofit organization, to manage the park.

In addition to government agencies and Friends of the Fells, local community members play a large role in the park’s maintenance. Maddie Morgan, the manager of community engagement and operations at Friends of the Fells, introduced the organization’s Trail Adopters program, wherein community members report fallen trees and other hazards to keep the Fells safe.

“They go out at least three times a year, most go out more … and just create another set of eyes for the Department of Conservation and Recreation,” Morgan said.

According to Morgan, bureaucratic slowdowns and obstacles arise when trying to create new projects due to the multitude of actors involved in the management and maintenance of the Fells; however, progress is constantly being made within the park.

“Essentially because it is a state park, it’s publicly owned, so there’s a lot of different pieces and players and community members, government, state, local partners that are involved in getting it to run,” Morgan said. “Because of that sometimes things are a little slower paced and it takes a little longer to make [projects] happen. But when [a new project] does happen, it’s

great and it’s obviously gone through a very thorough vetting process.”

She underscored the importance of perseverance in her line of work.

“[In] any kind of government organization, bureaucracy is always going to be a bit challenging. But I think if you have the right people to talk to and you’re patient and persistent, I think you can get things to work. But it is a long game. It’s not going to happen overnight,” Morgan said.

In line with its values of community partnership, Friends of the Fells is working to launch a program called “Be Kind,” which, as put by Morgan, “develops a better understanding of other user groups between user groups.”

These user groups, Morgan added, range from mountain bikers to hikers to community members walking their dogs. Overall, the Be Kind campaign endeavors to promote cooperative stewardship of the Fells by all who visit it.

On top of that, stewardship opportunities within the Fells are abundant. Eva Ramey, stewardship director of Tufts Mountain Club, shared her understanding of the term’s definition.

“Stewardship is giving back to the community that we’re in and taking care of the environments that we use,” Ramey, a junior, said. “I imagine this as meaning

conservation, as meaning volunteer work, as meaning trash pickups and being aware of the impact that we leave in spaces like the White Mountains [and] Woodstock, where the Loj is, and the Fells near campus.”

TMC is one of many organizations that partner with Friends of the Fells to complete projects within the park. Currently, TMC works with Friends of the Fells and the Massachusetts DCR to remove invasive species from the Fells. On Feb. 25, TMC co-hosted an invasive species removal event with Friends of the Fells.

Although the Fells is only a short car ride from Tufts, transportation can be a major issue in accessing the resources it has to offer. Ramey emphasized the need for “better knowledge of [transportation] resources and better utilization of them” to make the Fells more accessible to all Tufts students.

Currently, TMC serves as a resource for organizing carpools to the Fells including weekly walks organized by Joey Galvan-Carty, the club’s hiking director. Once the hurdle of access is passed, the Fells is a wonderful resource for Tufts students to spend time outside.

While standing in the Fells, it is easy to feel connected to nature and the present moment; however, there is

more to the Fells than current programs, stewardship and use. Taking a historical lens to the Fells reveals a rich history of environmental advocacy.

Morgan elaborated on the history of the Fells and its significance.

“There’s a lot of advocacy with a couple of people like Elizur Wright, [Frederick Law] Olmsted and his son. … They fought really hard to advocate for the Fells to protect it, and it was falling on deaf ears for a long, long time,” Morgan said. “But they just kept fighting and they were able to preserve the space and kind of launched the environmental movement from the work they did. So it’s really a very sneakily historic place [with] a lot of stories in it.”

The abundant history of the Fells is still being discovered to this day. Professor Ridge has spent the last decade researching and mapping the underlying geological history of the Fells.

This yearslong project was not sponsored by Tufts or an outside organization. Ridge explained that available writings on the Fells’ geology were out of date, so he was inspired to pursue it as a passion project.

“I became more interested in it, and I realized that there was something to do here that would be of interest to other people in my profession. But also a lot of

people in the public are out [in the Fells] all the time, and they’re curious about it,” Ridge said. Since starting his venture, he has created both a surficial geological map, which shows glacial features as well as a map of the bedrock structures within the Fells. Ridge then used his findings to create educational, self-guided geology tours of different trails within the Fells. The tours are accessible from his website, “The Geology of the Middlesex Fells.”

“I don’t know how many people use [the website],” Ridge said. “A few people have contacted me and said they liked it and everything and they asked questions about it.”

Ridge recalled with a smile how he once gave a talk at an elementary school and was later identified by one of the students in the audience who remembered his visit.

“I was in the supermarket, and this little boy was yanking on his father’s sleeve coat, [saying], ‘Dad, that’s the geology guy!’ So that felt pretty good. It made an impression on some kid,” Ridge said.

Ridge’s passion encapsulates the beauty of the Fells. It isn’t used by everyone and the stories it has to tell are not always easily apparent. But if you take the opportunity to explore and look closely, you will learn something new, and the Fells will make a lasting impression on you.

COURTESY OF MICHAEL MICALE / FRIENDS OF THE FELLS

The Middlesex Fells is pictured.

The Boston Marathon is

miles, but the journey to get there is longer

by Summer Maxwell Contributing Writer

Donald Megerle has never run a marathon. But that does not stop Coach Don, as his runners affectionately call him, from training 50 athletes from the Tufts Marathon Team to complete the race every year.

Megerle has been a part of the Tufts community for 52 years now, serving for 33 years as the men’s swimming coach before transitioning over to leading the marathon team in 2004. When he was first invited to take on the position, Megerle had to learn how to apply his coaching experience to a new field.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Megerle said of his first year coaching the team. “I coached and I did all that other stuff, but I didn’t know the structure of the marathon. I didn’t know [about] fundraising. I didn’t know anything about bibs.”

But after the first marathon, he was hooked. For Megerle, supporting his team from the sidelines on race day is a feeling like no other.

“This is where I could start crying,” Megerle said, recalling watching his runners approach. “I’m at the finish line. And as far as I’m concerned, they’re running to me.”

Megerle’s office is so covered in photos and gifts from his athletes that there isn’t a single spot of bare drywall. Megerle is proud of that impact.

“It energizes people,” Megerle said. “They see the picture on the wall, they see the letter they sent me, all kinds of memorabilia, just everything about them and me and what I’ve done here — it’s us.”

What makes the Tufts Marathon Team unique is that any member of the Tufts community — including undergraduates, alumni, professors, dining staff and even former presidents of the university — have a shot at obtaining a marathon bib, which is the term for the participant number assigned to runners.

Despite its open-door policy, for some runners, getting to the starting line in Hopkinton may prove more challenging than reaching the finish on Boylston Street. This is due to the challenge of fundraising. The team provides a coveted opportunity for runners to be able to set foot on the Boston Marathon course. Typically, to qualify, runners must meet challenging marathon qualifying times for collegiate-age athletes: three hours for men and three hours and 30 minutes for women.

Fundraising provides an alternative route to qualification. John Hancock Financial, an insurance company, has long partnered with the marathon to provide bibs for charity-based teams who can raise money instead of posting a qualifying time.

The Tufts Marathon Team has the largest number of runners in the charity program. From 2002–12, the Tufts Marathon Team’s contract with John Hancock Financial allocated them 100 bibs for each of the Boston Marathons. In the years since then, the team has been given 50 race bibs annually.

This has given runners like senior Chris Hale the opportunity to race in Boston this April.

“Getting to the Boston Marathon is really hard because the qualifying times are really challenging,” Hale said. “So we have the opportunity to join the Tufts Marathon Team and have the potential to run the marathon, [which is] awesome.”

Unfortunately, there generally aren’t enough bibs to go around, and not everyone on the Tufts Marathon Team is guaranteed one. Sheyla Zakashansky, a member of the team, knew that her chances of getting to race in 2023 were slim as a first-year. She discovered the team after noticing their runs on Strava, a social media app where users can share their workouts.

However, Zakashansky wasn’t discouraged by the prospect that she would have to wait her turn for a coveted bib. She is motivated simply by her passion for the sport.

“I like running for the sake of running,” Zakashansky said. “For my main goal of doing the marathon by the end of senior year, I try to focus on the short term right now. I do it for exercise and I do it for [those] uplifting endorphins and happiness.”

Undergraduates aren’t the only ones vying for bibs. Margaret Branco is an employee of Tufts Dining Services, and at age 50, is set to run her first marathon this April with the team.

“This is my dream,” Branco said. “I never had had a chance to get into the marathon.”

When Branco learned that Tufts had a marathon team, her manager at Tufts Dining Services put her in touch with Megerle, who came down to Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center where Branco was working to meet her in person and extend an invitation to join the team. Despite being older than most of the other runners, Branco does not feel left out.

“I am like a mama for the group,” Branco said with a laugh.

Branco enjoys getting to know other members of the Tufts community and running with them.

“They welcomed [me] very well,” Branco said.“They are

very nice, [we] take care of [each other] … when we run with each other, [we say] ‘keep it going, keep it going!’”

To qualify, Branco is facing an additional hurdle students don’t have to face: an additional $7,000 in fundraising. Student runners need to raise $3,000 for the Friedman School of Nutrition, but everyone else on the team, including Branco, has to meet a $10,000 requirement.

“It’s more … pressure for us,” Branco said. “$10,000. That’s a lot of money.”

But Branco is determined not to give up.

“I need to figure it out,” Branco said. “Because this is part of the dream. Right? Nothing comes free.”

Such steep fundraising demands may be a barrier to participation for many runners, but Megerle is determined to not let it hold any of his team members back.

“We have never, ever, not allowed someone to run the marathon based on the fundraising goals that they did or didn’t achieve,” Megerle said.

That’s good news for Branco, and anyone else who faces the huge obstacle that fundraising can be.

“I said [to her], ‘Margaret, here’s what you do. You train with us. You commit to our program, and everything will be fine,’” Megerle said.

While competing in the Boston Marathon is a possibility for this year’s batch of Tufts Marathon Team runners, future team members may not have the opportunity to use the fundraising option to get a race bib. This is because last fall, John Hancock announced that it will be dropping its sponsorship of the Boston Marathon after the 2023 race. After this year, Tufts will lose the 50 annual bibs John Hancock provided.

Unless the Boston Marathon can find a new charity sponsor to buy the bibs, runners from the Tufts Marathon Team won’t get any entries in the future unless they can meet the demanding qualifying times. According to Megerle, finding a sponsor for the charity program will not be easy.

“It has to be a big name [sponsor] because it costs a lot of money to buy these bibs,” explained Megerle.

For now, the team has to put its concerns about the future on the back burner and focus on the 2023 marathon as it rapidly approaches. No matter what times the runners post, they can be sure that Megerle will be waiting for them at the finish.

“When it’s all said and done, you’re going to turn around, and I’ll be standing there,” Megerle said. “It’s unconditional.”

26.2

GRAPHIC BY CHARLENE TSAI

wee K e N der

The 2023 Boston sci-Fi Film Festival showed nerdom at its roots

by Carl Svahn Arts Editor

If one were to stand next to the Somerville Theater on the night of Feb. 15, they would probably think the building was closed. No lights, no sounds and only the cold air blowing in their faces to provide any semblance of movement in the area. Yet just one door over in the theater’s own recently revamped Crystal Ballroom, the sci-fi community of the greater Boston area was throwing the party of the year. The chandelier-clad room was bathed in blue light and as a remote-controlled Mouse Droid prop rolled around the replica TARDIS in the center of the room, a dozen people lined up in a variety of “Doctor Who” (1963–) related outfits for a costume contest. This was how the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, the second oldest independent genre film festival in the country, officially opened its 48th year.

“We have a very niche audience,” Violet Acevedo, the assistant festival director of this year’s festival, said with a noticeable smile. “Nerds are very fanatical once they find something that they like and they want to devote to.”

This kind of love, in all of its weirdness, is the defining feature of the festival. From the festival volunteers who recorded panel conversations to the older and often impeccably dressed group of recurring attendees, everyone at this festival genuinely wants to be there not for status but to have fun. It’s this infectious attitude that made biking to Davis Square every day for five days straight worth it. Though it was impossible to attend every event the festival put together, the first day having to be missed in its entirety, the ones that were in line with a busy Tufts schedule showed just what this festival does best.

The second day started not with a film, but with a panel. In the backroom of Comicazi, Davis Square’s local comic shop, the directors of “Doctor Who Am I” (2022), a documentary on the infamous 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, sat with Shannon Weidermyer of DUST (a division of Gunpowder & Sky studio) and director, writer and actor Ben Myers to discuss how an unknown indie film or documentary may get distributed. Each member of the panel gave a detailed and impressive look into the minutia of distribution, par-

ticularly in how it applied to getting onto a streaming service or small studio like DUST. Matthew Jacobs and Vanessa Yuille, the directors of the film, gave additional commentary on what it meant to them to try and get a low-budget documentary into the public eye.

A few hours later, a screening took place, at least in a certain sense. Stuffed into the small microcinema of the Somerville Theater, a group of festival volunteers worked to put the 1988 interactive film “Isaac Asimov’s Robots” on for the crowd to participate in and laugh with (or at). After some technical difficulties, the screening eventually got underway, giving an excellent look back at ’80s sci-fi schlock in all its horrible, badly costumed robot glory.

Day 3 would see a similar setup but would end on a more wholesome note. Another panel kicked off the day, this time set in The Burren’s backroom and featuring Jason Kaufman, Brad Elliot, TaMara Carlson Woodard and Giang N. Pham, a series of “fabricators” (artists who create props and tools for media) discussing their craft and stories from behind the camera. With experiences ranging from episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987–94) to the recent “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (2022), where the fabricator was supposedly told by Disney to decrease their requested budget since “Mandalorian season 2 used less money,” the struggle for recognition and funny anecdotes between the panelists made the discussion the most engaging of the festival.

In one of the two marquee screenings attended, the festival took its audience to the distant reaches of space and the most 2000s-looking offices. “It’s Quieter in the Twilight” (2022) was a solid documentary detailing the ongoing Voyager mission at NASA and the crew in Pasadena, California’s efforts and sacrifices to keep the mission going. An interesting look into the science and psyche of a mission of this length, the documentary thrilled the audience, which even included Voyager engineer Todd Barber.

The next day featured a continuation of the fabricator panel. Even with a revamped focus on the process of fabrication itself, it remained incredibly entertaining. Later, in the second

major screening attended, “The Antares Paradox” (2022) stunned and delighted the audience. A Spanish film about a lone member of SETI who may have discovered a signal from extraterrestrials the same night her father lies dying in a hospital, the film offered perhaps the best screening of the festival and is worth keeping an eye on for a hopeful wide release.

What followed on the next and final day was the equivalent of a nice cup of ice cream following a three-course meal. The 24-Hour Film Marathon, which in the words of Acevedo was the festival’s most well-known feature, started at 12 p.m. on a Sunday and went until 12 p.m. the following Monday. The marathon showed

legendary films such as “Alien” (1979) and “Total Recall” (1990) mixed in with modern classics like “After Yang” (2021). Though only a fraction of the marathon could be attended, the casual atmosphere in the room was an excellent way to end the festival.

Looking at the crowd at any of these events, it’s not hard to notice the generally older demographics. While the youngest attendees were usually reporters, those who took time out of their day to attend the festival were predominantly in their 50s–70s. It was strange at first to sit next to them, but eventually it came together. In a world where most film festivals and conventions have become professionalized and fully funded, the Boston Sci-

Fi Film Festival stands out for something that can occasionally remain lacking in those other gatherings: passion. To be there is to know that you’re not seeing the next George Lucas smash or great Hollywood epic. You’re there because you want to be. Because you love science fiction, and you love being around others who do too.

“We love our nerds, we love our community and we love bringing them together,” Acevedo said. Drinking a “Rose Tyler” (sweet grenadine, ginger ale, maraschino cherries and a tiny British flag) while listening to soft ’80s British pop in the corner of a “Doctor Who”-themed ballroom, it’s hard to not see that union in practice.

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The TARDIS from “Doctor Who” (1963–) is pictured.

strip and show me the meat! The secret substance of ‘Magic Mike’s last dance’

by Ava Dettling Assistant Arts Editor

The time has come: “Magic” Mike Lane is hanging up his G-string and packing away his body oils. No longer will he grind and flex — or so he says. In Steven Soderbergh’s latest installment, “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (2023), Soderbergh follows Mike (Channing Tatum) as he is drawn to the stage for his final striptease. What can I say? The man just can’t seem to keep his hips from gyrating.

“Last Dance” is the third and final chapter in the “Magic Mike” (2012–23) trilogy. Each film in the series has examined the intersections between sex, artistry and, most importantly, getting paid for it. More than 10 years ago, Soderbergh graced audiences with the first installment, “Magic Mike” (2012), which follows Mike and his entourage as they navigate the seedy underbelly of the Florida stripping scene. A few years later, in “Magic Mike XXL” (2015), directed by Gregory Jacobs, Mike has quit stripping and started his own furniture business. Since his business isn’t going that well, he realizes that one final tease could make him a pretty penny. That wouldn’t be the last you see of Mike, though. He takes the stage one last time in “Last Dance,” a story that examines the dynamics between artist and patron and the stickiness when sex is involved.

The story begins with Mike, who has resorted to bartending at fancy charity events after losing his furniture business. At one of these events, he meets Max (Salma Hayek Pinault), an unhappy socialite looking to get her mind off her impending divorce. Learning of Mike’s skills from one of the other socialites, she implores him for one last dance. After a brief interval of bashful refusal, he gives her a lap dance nothing short of mind-blowing — with similarly mind-blowing sex afterward. This experience was so life-changing for Max that she decides to bring him back to London with her in exchange for $60,000, but sex is strictly off the table. Instead, she wants to introduce his glistening muscles to London’s historical theater district in the West End. Together, they contrive a sexed-up adaptation of a stiff period drama, “Isabel Ascendant.”

“This is not a strip show,” Max explains; it’s about giving women “whatever [they want], whenever [they want].”

However, what Max wants is continuously in flux throughout the film. The chemistry between the two is striking at the beginning, but soon the film seems to lose focus of the couple. The bulk of the story surrounds the various obstacles the two must overcome to put on the show. Her constant mood swings and emotional upheavals add the only action between them for much of the story. Compared to Mike’s steady good humor, she provides needed refreshment to these flat scenes. The artist-patron relationship between them could raise interesting questions about the ethics of mixing economic and sexual transactions. Yet, the film seems more concerned with Tatum writhing about on the floor.

The dancing, however, is not to be overlooked. The numbers, choreographed

by Alison Faulk and Luke Broadlick, bring the same tenacity from the previous films but with more politeness characteristic of the British environment (meaning they’ll ask nicely before they grind on you). While the dancers move with intelligence and grace, there is a certain savagery lurking underneath, threatening release at any moment. Not only do the dancers access a primal intensity, but the audience does as well. Mike said it best: “Do you want to find out how fast a group of sweet, nurturing moms can make you go running, cowering into a dark corner wishing you were never born? I promise you … it can happen just like that.”

Soderbergh is no stranger to matters of the heart, sex and all the messiness that comes with it. “Last Dance” adopts the same flashy and highly stylized production quality of Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s” trilogy (2001–07). But it undoubtedly has roots in Soderbergh’s earliest, and perhaps most minimalistic of works, “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (1989).

MacDowell) who is unhappy in her marriage, until she meets Graham (James Spader), an unassuming young man with a unique fetish. He likes to interview women and ask them about their sexual experiences and fantasies. It is a film centered around women’s relationship with sex and what they do or do not want from it. Just a few decades later, Soderbergh created “Last Dance,” following similar themes of female empowerment and sexual agency (but with more shirtless men).

The flimsy storytelling is supported by the performances of Tatum and Hayek Pinault and the alarmingly enticing set design — which in turn is supported by the film’s $45 million budget. Tatum, who actually was a male stripper in his youth, brings an earnest authenticity to his performance. He is a stripper with a heart of gold, reminiscent of lovable icons like Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” (1990). However, his affability perhaps goes too far, removing any complexity from his character. This gives the ferocious but

Saba S. and Jack Clohisy Queeries

Queer icons Ice Spice, Miley Cyrus and SZA top the charts

Bronx, N.Y. native Ice Spice broke onto the scene over the past few months with viral hits “Munch (Feelin’ U)” (2022), “In Ha Mood” (2023) and “Bikini Bottom” (2023). Most recently, she was recruited for the PinkPantheress remix, “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” (2023). The latter reached a new peak of No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, so it’s time to dive into Gen Z’s latest queer icon and others dominating the charts right now.

Born Jan. 1, 2000, Ice Spice was evidently destined for greatness. “How can I lose if I’m already chose?” she raps to open “Bikini Bottom.” In a recent interview with radio personality Ebro Darden, Ice Spice noted she was attracted to “good boys” and paused before following it up with “and girls.” Now a certified queer icon, Ice Spice isn’t the only queer legend topping the charts right now. The entire top 3 on the Hot 100 this week are held by queer women icons: Miley Cyrus, No. 1 with “Flowers” (2023), and SZA, No. 2 with “Kill Bill” (2022). With her first top 5 hit, Ice Spice is cementing herself as one of this generation’s burgeoning stars in pop culture, and there is much to look forward to from the newbie.

On Cyrus’ end, she earns her sixth week at No. 1 with her break-up-turnedself-love anthem “Flowers.” Openly queer since the mid-2010s, Cyrus currently holds the lead for the longest-running No. 1 of the year on the Hot 100, much to the celebration of the gays. SZA joins in on the celebration with her seventh week at No. 2. She revealed last year in a tweet that she identifies as queer, and she celebrates her 10th week at No. 1 with her latest album “SOS” (2022) — the longest-running female No. 1 album in nearly a decade.

This is a new age of queer music, and the increase in queer visibility for sexual and gender minorities regarding representation is more positive in 2023 than ever before. Songs such as Hayley Kiyoko’s “Girls Like Girls” (2015), Kehlani’s “Honey” (2017) and girl in red’s “i wanna be your girlfriend” (2017) have paved the way for this sapphic uprising in pop culture and have been a form of emotional support for young girls during a time when the depiction of queer relationships was taboo.

Coincidentally, the same man who revolutionized the indie film market of the ’90s also made some of the most commercially successful film franchises in Hollywood. Yet, these films share markedly similar themes. “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” follows a woman (Andie

hopelessly romantic Hayek Pinault not much to work with. “Last Dance” is well-funded enough to entertain but falls short of engaging. Much like the tame quality of the dance numbers, it is too tightly choreographed, afraid to take one step out of line.

These artists have and actively are dismantling stereotypes and feelings of repression among queer youth and have created a safe space in mainstream music for queer women to leave their personal legacies behind. Now, less than 10 years later, with Ice Spice, Miley Cyrus and SZA on top of the charts, queer voices are being uplifted more than ever before. This openness and authenticity in media need to remain preserved, and the stories of these artists and their work need to be heard. This positive representation in queer music is breaking the mold and allowing those who feel like they are different from the conventional mold to find self-acceptance and listen to top hits and good music while doing it.

The movie poster for “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (2023) is pictured.

Saba S. is a columnist at the Daily. Jack Clohisy is a senior studying computer science and cognitive and brain science. Jack can be reached at jack.clohisy@tufts.edu.

Fun & Games

Last Week’s Solutions

SUDOKU

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY

Natalie to Aaron G: “I remembered your name but only as second Aaron.”

MISSED CONNECTIONS

You: Stuffing your face with scrambled eggs at Dewick. Me: So shocked to realize that TAs were actually normal human being who actually eat food that I didn’t even say hi. Whoops. Hi.

You: The Associated Collegiate Press conference in San Francisco. Me: Trying to process my emotions during prodo

Difficulty Level: Creating a sudoku diffiulty level.

CROSSWORD

Join the global climate strike to end fossil finance

by Tufts Climate Action

“An important goal of the conversion to oil,” political theorist Timothy Mitchell writes, “was to permanently weaken the coal miners, whose ability to interrupt the flow of energy had given organized labor the power to demand the improvements to collective life that had democ -

ratized Europe.” In his seminal work “Carbon Democracy,” Mitchell provocatively argues that transitions in global energy regimes are based less on inherent needs than transnational capital’s assault on democratic pressures from below. For a school that prides itself on its civic education and vast alumni network in public and international ser-

vice, Tufts University has yet to take a committed stance on fossil fuels, whose contribution to climate change poses the gravest threat not only to liberal democracy but also to our very survival. With the conviction that Tufts should and is able to become a leading institution in shaping a greener future, we as Tufts Climate Action have teamed

up with climate activist groups across Massachusetts to organize a climate strike on Friday, March 3, on Tufts campus at 10:15 a.m. at the Mayer Campus Center’s lower patio. We will then travel together to downtown Boston at 11:15 a.m. to join the city-wide rally.

Despite TCA’s over-a-decade-long campaign for Tufts to fully divest from fossil fuels, it is no secret that Tufts maintains a large holding of fossil energy in its financial portfolio.

As, in 2022, 3.8% of Tufts’ $2.4 billion endowment was invested in “broad energy sectors,”

TCA estimates that Tufts still holds a $90 million investment in fossil fuel industries. Even though the Board of Trustees announced in 2021 its intent to ban direct holdings in coal and tar sands companies, $26 million, or 1.1% of Tufts’ endowment, is still devoted to them via indirect holdings. Our efforts in this regard pale in comparison to what we deem as ‘peer institutions’: Amherst College, Wesleyan University, Smith College, Brandeis University and Boston University have all committed to full divestment from fossil fuels in the foreseeable future. In fact, the worldwide campaign for institutional divestment has accumulated

Book bans: Unfortunately not a closed book

by Talia Wilcox Contributing Writer

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is my favorite book. Other favorites of mine include “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. All of these books, in addition to at least hundreds of others, have been challenged, banned or removed from libraries all over the United States. A book ban occurs when a person or a group objects to the content of a book, and through successful challenge, that book is removed from libraries and school curricula.

Between July 2021 and June 2022, 2,532 books were banned in schools in the United States. Over half of these bans have occurred in Texas and Florida — where Gov. DeSantis’ administration banned the AP African American Studies course. These events have a common denominator: politicians, specifically Republicans, who are imposing politics and culture wars on education. Book bans are a form of anti-democratic, subjective censorship with negative implications for both students and educators. In many cases, book bans target books with themes

of identity and self-expression, with 41% of books banned from July 2021 to June 2022 having explicit LGBTQ+ themes or characters. The problem has worsened, as the number of book bans doubled between 2020 and 2021. Currently, there are ongoing debates in New Hampshire surrounding the so-called “obscene materials bill,” which would allow parents to challenge school books and materials that they deem inappropriate. However, based on prior book bans, the bill might be a cover for removing books with LGBTQ+ characters or books with characters of color.

These book bans create serious implications for education.

Censoring education through restricting reading materials denies American students the right to a complete education. Book bans of this nature restrict how students learn and discuss American history and current events. Teachers now fear what they can and can not say in their own classrooms. Students’ learning is directly influenced by the views of politicians, and reading about other cultures and values creates empathy. By banning such content, Republican politicians are succeeding in creating a more intolerant, xenophobic society.

Moreover, the impact of book bans on students’ mental health is significant. Seeing books disappear off shelves with characters and stories that represent and speak to them is detrimental — students lose representation of the LGBTQ+ community and characters of color, coverage of American racism, awareness of identities other than heterosexual white characters and access to sex education.

Book banning isn’t only happening in Republican states. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J.K. Rowling, “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain are some examples of titles challenged in certain New England states. While Massachusetts has laws in place to protect students’ right to equality in education, regional book bans directly contradict those objectives.

Nationally, Democrats are pushing efforts to fight against censorship. Currently, the Supreme Court decision Island Trees School District v. Pico states that “the government — in this case, a public school — cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of that speech,” according

an astonishing $40 trillion that will abstain from coal, gas and oil stocks — close to the GDP of the United States and China combined.

Without a doubt, the corrosive impact of climate change is already and will be felt disproportionally by marginalized communities both in the United States and in the global south. The U.S. Gulf Coast — which stretches from Texas and Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — has recently been devastated by Hurricane Harvey, which displaced 30,000 people, and by Winter Storm Uri which caused $300 billion in damages. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has projected that water levels along the Gulf Coast will be up to 18 inches higher by 2050. In Pakistan, a nation that produces only 0.6% of global carbon emissions, the deadly floods in 2022 sent 15 million people in need of emergency food assistance while the 2010 floods left 20% of Pakistan’s population homeless. A think tank report recently predicted that 1.2 billion people could be displaced by climate change by 2050. How will Tufts, with its

see CLIMATE, page 10

to the Bill of Rights Institute. In fighting to protect the decision of this case, Senator Brian Schatz and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin are drafting legislation to denounce book censorship and the elimination of educational materials from libraries and schools.

While Democrats are passionate about protecting students’ right to learn, in this battle, the Republican Party possesses skills that Democrats have yet to harness: effective mobilization at the local level. This wave of book banning is spearheaded by conservative organizations, and they are effective in winning local

elections and gaining control at the local level. This mass mobilization is a serious threat to democracy. Book bans are censorship and therefore a violation of our First Amendment rights. Censorship is not democratic. Book bans are not democratic. In order to further a democratic society with educated students, we must invest more of our time, energy and resources into getting ourselves and others involved in local government, starting with the local school board. Only through control at the local level can we ensure that the integrity of our libraries remains intact.

COURTESY

Members of the Tufts community protest outside of the Mayer Campus Center.

Asher Berlin around the Corner

Averting the end of truth

AI has gripped the United States, as technologies like ChatGPT and Midjourney have astonished the nation with their uncanny abilities. Midjourney, an AI art generator, can convert a prompt into an art piece in around a minute, in any style or medium. It has effectively demonstrated that art, a bastion of human creativity, may fall to the machines sooner than was thought. Further, TikTok has seen another form of AI trending: deepfakes.

Deepfake technologies use AI to generate new reality. A deepfake algorithm, with enough input data, can produce completely new video and sound. An AI trained in President Joe Biden’s speeches could theoretically generate a fictitious one, making him say whatever one desires. As the technology stands now, it is not difficult to distinguish between the real and the deepfaked. Jittery movements and CGI-esque lighting betray the inauthenticity of deepfaked clips. The problem, however, is not so much what deepfakes can do now but what they could do in the future. Imagine a world where deepfakes are indistinguishable from reality to the human eye. The disinformation campaign in the 2016 elections would take on disastrous proportions. Unscrupulous politicians could release fake clips ruining their opponents’ reputations. Nor would its effects be limited to politics. Getting revenge on someone could be as easy as ‘leaking’ damaging videos of them to employers, schools or friends. It does not matter if deepfaked clips are debunkable. By the time they are proven false, the damage has been done. In the end, our trust in what we read or see would irreparably plummet.

Part of what makes this future so terrifying is that it is already very similar to the present. Conspiracy theories are not only common but embraced. Flat Earth theories, proven false more than two millennia ago, are rapidly being revived. QAnon has attracted a massive following claiming that former President Donald Trump was battling a covert posse of pedophiles in the U.S. government.

In the law, truth is an absolute defense against libel. In the world, indisputable evidence evidently is not. However, that is not a reason to despair. We can work to expand access to the greatest shield against deceit: education. It is the only lasting solution to disinformation. While simply telling people what is true or false engenders hostility, teaching them how to think critically and independently enables them to reach the truth on their own. This is not a criticism of those who are drawn in by deepfakes or disinformation but of a U.S. education system that lags behind much of the developed world. To give students the ability to avoid falling for conspiracy theories and deceit, they need a proper education. Disinformation requires a cooperative audience. Without education, it will be denied one.

Asher Berlin is a sophomore studying history. Asher can be reached at asher. berlin@tufts.edu.

by Toby Winick Opinion Editor

VIEWPOINT

The U-turn of corporate politics

Americans are now living in a country where corporate patronization and political affiliation become more intertwined each day. In our capitalist democracy, these two aspects are huge parts of cultural character. According to Siege Media, “Fox News” and “CNN” are up with “Starbucks” and “McDonalds” in 2022’s most Googled terms. It is no question how prominent companies and politics are in our daily lives, but there’s been a growing trend of mixing them together.

The main reason that this has entered the realm of political contention is due to the perceived skew in agendas of popular companies. Republicans have declared a war on “woke” companies — those that advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion work — all while using critical race theory as a “bogeyman.” As a result, social issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and CRT are projected to be top concerns for 2024 election voters.

There is some substance behind these claims of corporate bias. Since former president Donald Trump’s election in 2016, his controversial opinions led companies to take a stance, often under pressure from customers and employees. For instance, Nike’s national attention skyrocketed after a 2018 campaign featured quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose on-field protest was criticized by Donald Trump and conservatives nationwide. Prior to the campaign, Nike had also prided itself on previous social statements. Starbucks was one of many companies to come out against Trump’s travel bans, famously pledging to hire 10,000 refugees. Many other corporations have publicly disagreed with conservative policies, leading to a Republican pivot against big business.

Despite this paradigm shift, nearly 70% of top executives are registered Republicans. This should be unsurprising, as Republicans traditionally favor business interests. Therefore, the decision to make social issues a priority is often measured in terms of investment and sales rather than quality of life and activism. Indeed, before Nike measured record stock prices after the Kaepernick ad, they were unsure whether continuing their partnership would help or hurt business interests. In most cases, there is little substance behind progressive corporate statements, so it is also important to examine statements on the other end of the political spectrum.

If Trump’s election and incendiary statements were the catalyst for these movements, it follows that now that he is out of office and largely deplatformed from social media that the public has been holding corporations less accountable. In the meantime, some corporations have even based their profit model on appealing to conservative ideals of what big business should look like. The Black Rifle Coffee Company has gained national attention for its military veteran ownership and defiance of “liberal latte” stereotypes with its responsive pledge to hire 10,000 veterans after Starbucks’ promise to hire refugees (and for its merchandise being present at the Jan. 6 insurrection). Their CEO has explicitly stated they are trying to corner the “blue-collar,” “shop at Walmart,” conservative market. The reunification of conservatism and big business was not anticipated to emerge in this form, but it is hard to deny the company’s rapid growth.

It is also important to take notice of already established companies that reneged from previous values or statements. Google quietly expressed interest in taking Pentagon contracts after walking away from the Department of Defense

years ago due to employee concerns. More directly, College Board removed “contemporary” lessons like Black Lives Matter and Black feminism from its proposed AP African American Studies topic after incredible conservative backlash, particularly from Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Twitter — perceived and documented as disproportionately used by younger liberals, according to Pew Research Center — was bought by Elon Musk, who restructured the company to great Republican cheer.

If the current trend continues, we will have arrived exactly where we started, but in an even better position for Republicans. They can return to their support of big business while maintaining the rhetorical battleground of CRT and ‘wokeness,’ praising the corporations that comply with their ideals. Moreover, if people settle for surface-level progressivism, it will make it harder to discount truly harmful conservative actions, such as erasing the identities and histories of Black Americans or Twitter’s free speech absolutism leading to a rise in hate speech.

Multimillion-dollar corporations have the potential to exercise immense political weight. Even purely monetary contributions could have a significant impact. Ideological change within an organization can affect not just the thousands of employees but also consumers and competitors. Therefore, it is important to push back on this great power being used for harmful purposes. Advocating for change is important, but the end goal should not be settling for an uncontroversial public statement or a market-tested advertising campaign that appeases investors. Holding businesses accountable will have much greater success in creating lasting change and activism will not rise and fall with controversial figures like Donald Trump.

Join the global climate strike to end fossil finance

CLIMATE

continued from page 9

traditionally international outlook and an increasing dedication to science and engineering, respond to the most daunting crisis of our lifetime?

On Friday, Tufts Climate Action will be joining Fridays for Future, an international network of youth climate activists, to demand climate justice at Tufts, in Massachusetts and beyond. The international narrative for the March 3 Global Climate Strike is to end fossil finance. This is only possible if educational and governmental institutions prioritize people over profit. We view divestment as the first step towards climate reparations for Indigenous, Black and diverse marginalized communities worldwide. Thus, TCA demands that Tufts:

1. Take a fearless stance on climate and be a climate leader. Prioritize the use of their resources to reduce the university’s impact on the climate and

support communities most vulnerable to climate change.

2. Divest from fossil fuels and invest in sustainable causes. Tufts should establish a plan for full divestment with clear benchmarks for accountability.

3. Commit that Tufts University research exists and operates independently of the influence of the fossil fuel industry. Follow the standards established by the international Fossil Free Research campaign.

4. Officially commit to carbon neutrality by 2030. We ask for the transparent commencement of a realistic, comprehensive and actionable carbon neutrality plan that prioritizes carbon neutrality by 2030.

To the Massachusetts legislature and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, TCA demands that they:

1. Commit to 100% carbon-free energy statewide by 2030. Our state is already being affected by the climate crisis and

the sooner we achieve zero emissions, the better chance we have to mitigate the effects.

2. No new fossil fuel infrastructure. To build any new fossil fuel infrastructure at this point in time is to invest in technologies that are actively destroying our planet and must be shut down within a few years at most to mitigate their effects on the climate.

The full list of demands can be found in the bio of our Instagram page, @tuftsclimateaction.

Tufts Climate Action would like to invite all to join the rallies on the Hill and in Boston in our collective struggle for climate justice. If we don’t want to wait another decade for further inaction from the powers that be, we must use our privilege as Tufts students to make our demands heard. In addition to speeches, there will be musical performances, chanting and singing and marching at the rallies. It’ll be a blast.

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Men’s basketball falls to hamilton in Nescac semifinals, prepares for the Big dance

Oliver Fox sports and society 56 or 38,387?

“Records are meant to be broken.” What? No, they’re not.

When LeBron James scored his 38,388th point — shattering the nearly 40-year-old ceiling held by league icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — it was super weird. James hitting a nice and respectable mid-range turnaround over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams is possibly the least notable basketball play I can think of. The Thunder were up by 7 and after the shot up by 5. Williams is an undrafted wing out of Texas Christian University and has carved out a nice role for himself as a situational rotation player. But James has been taking the Kenrich Williams of the world to church since 2003, so what was one more turnaround fade?

When the shot went down, the game was stopped for what felt like a comical amount of time. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver congratulated James, and he shared a moment with Abdul-Jabbar at midcourt before giving a short speech. It was a cute moment for everyone, and the Thunder ended up winning the game by 3.

by Spencer Rosenbaum Staff Writer

Originally published March 1

After the NESCAC No. 5 Jumbos took down national No. 3 and NESCAC No. 4 Middlebury Panthers in a very impressive performance that ended in an 89–80 double-overtime victory, the players took a collective sigh of relief. Whether through self-evaluation, Drew Pasteur’s Bracketology, the ‘expert’ takes from anonymous writers on Division III message boards or any number of other sources, the squad felt very confident — rightly so — that this win would earn them an NCAA tournament bid. Yet, a NESCAC title was still on the table for the team. As the Jumbos entered Saturday’s semifinals matchup against the NESCAC No. 2 Hamilton Continentals, perhaps it was this confidence in having future games that hurt them, leading to a 71–48 loss.

“I think it just came down to Hamilton [being] the more hungry team,” senior captain and guard Theo Henry said. “I think they attacked that game and attacked us with an attitude that we just didn’t bring: Their season was on the line and ours probably wasn’t.”

Tufts opened up the game well, keeping it a tight game for much of the first half. However, as Hamilton went on a 17–5 run with 7:19 to go in the first half, the team went into the second half down 34–21, and Hamilton never looked back. Although the squad made several attempts to cut into the lead in the sec-

ond half, their efforts proved unsuccessful, only able to cut it to 15 points. The Continentals pushed through to claim the victory handily behind 19 points from guard Hank Morgan and 13 points from guard Teja Singh. Meanwhile, the Jumbos were led by senior guard Tyler Aronson’s 9 points and junior guard Jay Dieterle, who went a spectacular 3–5 from beyond the arc and 3–6 from the field.

On the boards, the team was once again led by first-year forward Scott Gyimesi with seven as well as Henry, who grabbed six rebounds. As a team, the Jumbos shot 27.1% from the field, while the Continentals shot 42.1%, a statistic indicative of the Jumbos’ struggles on the night.

“There’s a lot of stuff defensively that I think we can improve on,” Henry said. “We didn’t shoot the ball that great. [There are] a lot of things we’re gonna need to fix heading into Friday.”

Following Hamilton’s victory, the Continentals went on to defeat the Colby Mules in the NESCAC Championship. They defeated Colby 71–59 to win both the conference title and the automatic NCAA tournament bid it carried. Overall, three NESCAC schools earned at-large bids to the Division III tournament: Middlebury, Williams and Tufts.

The Jumbos will spend the first weekend of tournament play at Keene State College in New Hampshire, where they will take on Widener University in the first round on Friday. If the team wins that game, then they will take on the winner of Baruch and nation-

al No. 5 Keene State. Henry discussed the team’s preparation for Friday’s game.

“We’ll have to watch the film and see how Widener plays,” Henry said. “We obviously had a great plan going into Middlebury and didn’t perform the same way against Hamilton. [We have to] get back to [doing] what we do, which is to defend, get out and run, and shoot the ball well.”

If the Jumbos get back to doing those things and performing like the type of team they can be, the sky’s the limit. But, as evidenced by the wide variety in their quality of performance, it is hard to know which team is going to show up every day. Henry commented on the team’s goals as it enters the next phase of the season.

“My goal has always been [to win the] NCAA Championship,” Henry said. “[We’re] definitely looking to make some noise, and … I feel good about our chances against anyone we come across. This is a battle-tested team, we’ve played some of the best in the country, and we held our own or beat them, so I’m feeling good.”

Two weeks ago, as the Jumbos prepared for what was likely a do-or-die matchup against the Panthers, the same questions arose: Would the squad step up? And which team would show up to the court? Even though the squad needed to beat a Middlebury team that it had previously lost to 72–56, it was able to put on arguably its best performance of the season to come away with the victory.

It may be a good thing that the Jumbos will only have do-or-die games for the rest of their season. After all, history tends to repeat itself.

Women’s basketball dominates in NESCAC Championships

CHAMPIONS continued from back

from Gonzalez and Kelly killed off any hopes for a late Trinity comeback as Tufts ended the game with a comfortable 19-point margin. Gonzalez shot 3–5 from deep, her second-highest percentage this year and wrote about her shooting mentality.

“My mindset for open looks is honestly just to shoot them,” Gonzalez wrote. “If I’m open, I know my team and coach trust me to make them. I think I’ve grown a lot this year in developing my games in other areas, especially defensively, and that has propelled me to play

well offensively as well. I will continue to expand my game to help lead the team to success.”

Russell wrote about the evolution of the team and emotions after the final buzzer sounded.

“It felt amazing. I am so proud of this team and how much we’ve grown together this season in order to win a NESCAC,” Russell wrote. “It means everything winning with your best friends. Each year each team brings something different to the table. This year we bring a lot of energy, desire to win, and just a love for playing the game with each other.”

Gonzalez also paid tribute to the Jumbos’ coaching staff, highlighting head coach Jill Pace, now NESCAC champion both as a player (with Bowdoin College in 2009) and coach.

“Coach Pace, Coach Sam Mancinelli, and Coach Vanese Barnes are … amazing coaches on and off the court,” Gonzalez wrote. “They know how much we care about the sport and each other and support all of us with everything we do. They are able to coach us in ways they know can elicit success from us. In my two years, I’ve learned, especially from Coach Pace, about the importance of sticking to your principles and never wavering them for success.”

But what made this moment worthy of stopping a regular season basketball game? There is nothing special about the circumstance — it was a regular season game between two teams struggling to compete for a play-in spot — nor was there anything particularly special about the shot. Had James instead broken the record by dunking so ferociously on Kenrich Williams that he would have to consider retiring from the sport of basketball altogether, I may have needed a minute or two.

The only obviously special thing about the moment was a number: 38,387. That was the bar Abdul-Jabbar left when he retired, theoretically “intended” to be jumped. But the number is meaningless. It is a random five-digit amount. If 38,388 is the prophesied number to signify the coming of the basketball lord, I must have missed that verse.

Nobody cares that James has now pushed the record to 38,450 and counting. All that matters is that he did. And it is precisely because nobody did for almost four decades that it mattered.

Abdul-Jabbar’s record would have been tastier had it not been broken, and to me, the all-time scoring record is one of the more flavorless ones out there. It is the achievement constructed over an incomprehensibly long period of time and was inevitable before the season began. Lame.

The coolest records in sports are a combination of longevity and elusiveness. It had been clear for a few years that, barring a catastrophic injury, James would break the record eventually. There is no zest, no dramatic intrigue and no real possibility of failure.

Contrasted with Joe DiMaggio’s unfathomable 56-game hitting streak — something that theoretically could be broken by any player at any point in any season before the 106th game — the NBA scoring record seems pretty flat. DiMaggio’s streak is the perfect record because it is neither impossible nor inevitable, nor could it ever become inevitable. If Mike Trout was nursing a 56-game hitting streak, the entire world would sit on a knife’s edge for every at-bat in the 57th.

Maybe records like Abdul-Jabbar’s are meant to be broken because they will almost certainly lose their allure sometime before the death of the universe. But the best records, like DiMaggio’s hitting streak, should never be broken. Its coolness is a direct function of time and will eventually approach infinity. If Trout — or anyone else, preferably someone not on the Yankees — ever stares down that 57th game, I might be the only person in the world rooting for the pitcher.

Oliver Fox is a sophomore studying history. Oliver can be reached at oliver.fox@tufts.edu.

RACHEL LIU / THE TUFTS DAILY

The men’s basketball team is pictured in a game against Bowdoin on Feb. 4.

sP or T s

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023

history made as women’s basketball crowned Nescac champions

by Bharat Singh Deputy Sports Editor

A magical weekend at Cousens Gymnasium saw the Jumbos crowned NESCAC champions for the first time since 2019, adding a fourth title in conference history. An incredible defensive effort powered Tufts past both Middlebury and Trinity College, extending their overall record to 21–6 as they head into the NCAA tournament where they will host the United States Merchant Marine Academy on March 3.

The Jumbos’ historic weekend began with a semifinal clash against Middlebury College. A dominating first quarter set the tone for Tufts’ largest win margin this season, 74–39. Junior guard Callie O’Brien hit the ground running with 7 quick points as the Jumbos took a 21–5 lead into the second quarter. The scoreboard pressure mounted as sophomore guard Sofia Gonzalez drilled back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second quarter while junior forward Mallory Folliard contributed from the bench. Folliard put up an impressive 12

points and seven rebounds on the night, joining junior forward Maggie Russell and O’Brien with double-digit points.

Tufts’ 41 points in the second half, including 30 off the bench, marked the game as one of Tufts’ best NESCAC performances in recent years. O’Brien finished with 12 points and four assists while Russell registered 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The Jumbos dominated the paint and second-chance points, comfortably outscoring the Panthers 36–22 and 10–6 respectively.

Gonzalez reflected on the win and the team’s mindset going into the semifinal.

“The Middlebury game was just another championship game, as coach calls it,” Gonzalez wrote in an email to the Daily. “And that’s exactly how we played – and the score especially showed that. I expected us to play our best, maybe not to that extent, but I think it was great for us because it was proof that if we play together, the outcome of the game will be successful.”

Unlike the 1-point thriller on Senior Day, the NESCAC final

against Trinity was dominated by the No. 1 seed. Right from the tipoff, the Jumbos set the tone with two quick layups from Gonzalez and free throws from Russell. With 16 points and 14 rebounds, Russell led the scoring and rebound charts on the night. The pressure mounted as the Jumbos held the Bantams’ offense to just 13 in the opening quarter while continuing to score with important contributions from O’Brien and sophomore guard Annika Decker. Back-to-back 3-pointers from junior guard Hannah Kelly and Gonzalez gave the Jumbos a 19–13 lead going into the second quarter.

Tufts rode their early scoring momentum into the second quarter to put 15 on the board before the break while Trinity struggled offensively, putting up just 8 points. The Jumbos’ 5 points off the bench compared to the visitors’ 3 highlighted the team’s flexibility with scoring options, a regular theme throughout this championship-winning season. The first half built a perfect platform for the Jumbos, having

established a 34–21 lead while the Bantams’ offensive anchor Reilly Campbell and forward Samantha Slofkiss picked up a pair of fouls.

Despite Trinity winning the third quarter 12–8, Tufts maintained its lead and went into the fourth quarter leading by 9 on the back of two layups from Russell and Kelly. Trinity shot 28.8% from the field as Tufts was able to shut down offensive outlets and force contested shots.

“We were just focused on not allowing each player to do what they like to do defensively,” Russell wrote in an email to the Daily. “I think our communication on defense has allowed us to play fantastic team defense.”

The Jumbos’ tight defense was matched with an outstanding offensive performance from behind the arc. Three early 3-pointers in the fourth quarter

The Tufts women’s basketball team is pictured on Feb. 11.